Categories Poll Print Media

British Actors With the Best American Accents – Feb 25, 2021

Hall of Fame

by Vince Mancini | Uproxx | February 25, 2021

Mastering an American accent has become a rite of passage for British and Australian actors, and assorted other former British colonies. It’s an interesting phenomenon: in America we send most of our young actors through the teenybopper homogenizing machine, which spits out enough semi-interchangeable over-coiffed influencers every year to fill Disney Channel sitcoms and country music contracts. The downside of which is that casting directors looking for someone “authentic” looking frequently land on actors born and raised thousands of miles away. Half of our superheroes are English and Australian.

This, in turn, has led to a class of actors so good at American accents that hearing their natural ones in interviews is downright shocking. This past month alone has seen the release of Judas And The Black Messiah, starring British actor Daniel Kaluuya as American revolutionary Fred Hampton, and now Cherry, starring Brit Tom Holland as an Ohioan with an opiate addiction (actually Holland’s second turn as an Ohioan after Devil All The Time). Kaluuya looks like a lock for a Best Actor nomination, but both are quickly proving themselves masters of the American accent, and American regional accents.

Continue reading British Actors With the Best American Accents – Feb 25, 2021

Categories Forsyte Saga Poll Print Media Wolf Hall

PBS Masterpiece Hopeful To Be Involved with BBC’s Wolf Hall – Jan 9, 2021

PBS Wants Damian Back for Wolf Hall

by Peter White | Deadline | January 8, 2021

PBS’ Masterpiece, which has been home to classic British dramas including Downton Abbey, Upstairs, Downstairs, Prime Suspect and the original House of Cards, turns 50 on January 10.

Susanne Simpson, an exec producer on series including Downton Abbey, took over running Masterpiece in November 2019, replacing Rebecca Eaton. She told Deadline that the success of the regal ITV drama, which ran for six seasons and ending in 2015, was a turning point for British dramas in the U.S. and it has now pivoted to ensure that it still has a pipeline of shows.

However, she is hopeful that PBS would be involved in the sequel to BBC’s Wolf Hall. Peter Kosminsky is working on the follow-up to Hilary Mantel’s book series, which published The Mirror and the Light last year, and hopeful of getting the original cast such as Damian Lewis back on board.

Continue reading PBS Masterpiece Hopeful To Be Involved with BBC’s Wolf Hall – Jan 9, 2021

Categories Forsyte Saga Poll Print Media Wolf Hall

Masterpiece (PBS/BBC) Favorites of a More Recent Vintage – Jan 8, 2021

Two for Damian: Wolf Hall and The Forsyte Saga

by Matthew Gilbert | Boston Globe | January 7, 2021

Here are some of my favorite Masterpiece shows, in no particular order. I have restricted the list to those that have aired in the past 25 years, which is why you won’t see the well-known classics, including I, Claudius, The Jewel in the Crown, House of Cards, Elizabeth R, or Prime Suspect.

Wolf Hall (2015)

Based on Hilary Mantel’s Henry VIII novels, the mesmerizing six-parter takes place from the point of view of the King’s most trusted advisor, Thomas Cromwell, played by a quietly sardonic Mark Rylance. This isn’t the bodice-ripping, horse-hopping likes of Showtime’s The Tudors; it’s elegant, downbeat, authentically lit, intensely acted, and clever and relevant when it comes to 16th-century politics. Damian Lewis is Henry, Jonathan Pryce is Cardinal Wolsey, and Claire Foy is Anne Boleyn.

Continue reading Masterpiece (PBS/BBC) Favorites of a More Recent Vintage – Jan 8, 2021

Categories Billions Music Poll Print Media

The 10 Best TV Needle Drops of 2020 – Dec 29, 2020

2020 Best TV Songs/Soundtrack Moments

by Sean T. Collins | Vulture | December 29, 2020

“Vision” is right there in the name of the damn thing, but as a medium, television is as much dependent on sound as it is on sight. This year, from comedies to dramas, from terrestrial networks to streaming services, a good soundtrack was often as big a part of a show’s critical conversation, and as crucial a component in separating great TV from the rest of the pack, as any other element. As part of our annual holiday tradition, we’re once again counting down the year’s top music cues, for those glorious moments when sound and vision collide. Crank ’em up!

Continue reading The 10 Best TV Needle Drops of 2020 – Dec 29, 2020

Categories Billions Poll Print Media

Best Male Television Performances of 2020 – Dec 23, 2020

Top 10 Performers in the Realm of Television

by Ganesh Raheja | Republic World | December 22, 2020

The year 2020 also bore witness to some exemplary pieces of character work in the realm of mainstream television as well. Hugh Grant in The Undoing gave a spine-chilling performance as the human embodiment of a menacing soul in a gentleman’s attire. Damian Lewis in Billions set new benchmarks as the shrewd, conniving yet likeable Bobby “Axe” Axelrod in the hit Showtime series.

Mark Ruffalo in I Know This Much Is True showed that he can step out of the shadow of his MCU character, The Hulk, at any given point in time and play a character that is Bruce Banner in every possible way. The article that can be found below enlists such performances who have been a part of the best TV Shows of 2020.

Continue reading Best Male Television Performances of 2020 – Dec 23, 2020

Categories Band of Brothers Broadcast Media Poll

Every HBO Miniseries Ranked – Nov 25, 2020

Band of Brothers

by Noel Murray and Scott Tobias  | Vulture | November 25, 2020

Some of the network’s best, most daring work has come in the form of a limited series.

As HBO miniseries started developing in the mid-’80s and early ’90s, the “It’s Not TV. It’s HBO” tagline would not have applied. With a notable exception of Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau’s Tanner ’88, early efforts like The Far Pavilions and All the Rivers Run — the latter unavailable for us to include — had the scope of a typical two-night network event, with little of the ambition and artistry (and premium-cable pruriency) that would come to define the network. Even some of the more lauded, award-winning benchmarks from the mid-2000s, like the star-packed Richard Russo adaptation Empire Falls or the lavishly appointed historical drama Elizabeth I, hadn’t evolved past a more traditional model.

Continue reading Every HBO Miniseries Ranked – Nov 25, 2020

Categories Poll Wolf Hall

100 Best Miniseries Of All Time – Aug 17, 2020

Wolf Hall Has It All

by Joni Sweet | Lake Geneva Regional News | August 17, 2020

With shelter-at-home orders still in effect, the pandemic has left us with little more to do than veg out in front of the TV. Data released from Comcast in May showed that the average household watched some 66 hours of television each week—more than an additional full workday’s worth of television than people were watching in March.

But after so many stay-at-home months and the uncertainty of how many more there will be, it might be time for some fresh content to indulge in while noshing on takeout. Enter the miniseries. It might just be the perfect format for quarantine life. Miniseries offer the rich visuals and storytelling of cinema, with the ability to binge-watch a few episodes, like conventional television. Plus, you’ve got decades of compelling miniseries to choose from in just about every genre imaginable.

To help narrow down the choices, Stacker collected IMDb data on all miniseries/limited series on July 29, and ranked them according to their IMDb user rating, ties broken by votes. It also looked at reviews from The New York Times, Rotten Tomatoes, Forbes, NPR, The Guardian, and other media to see what the critics have to say.

It should come as no surprise that BBC’s striking nature documentaries score highly on this list. But scattered throughout the rankings, you’ll discover a mix of historical dramas, shocking true crime documentaries, sci-fi favorites, animated works and shows inspired by comics, and police procedurals that put a new twist on an old-school genre.

From visually-stunning nature documentaries to historical war dramas, here are the top 100 miniseries of all time, according to data from IMDb.

Continue reading 100 Best Miniseries Of All Time – Aug 17, 2020

Categories Billions Poll

Which Billions Character Are You Based On Your Zodiac? – July 4, 2020

The 12 Zodiac Signs of Billions

by Philip Etemesi | Screenrant | July 3, 2020

Billions focuses on the lives and intrigue of, well, billionaires. Which of these rich characters are you based on your zodiac?

Showtime series Billions is currently in its fifth season and it’s still as intriguing as ever. A couple of billionaires such as Mark Cuban have even confessed to being huge fans of the series. And according to top hedge-funders, it gives an accurate portrayal of life at Wall Street too.

Billions is loosely based on the pursuit of billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara. Cohen was eventually banned from trading for two years. Here are the Billions characters that represent each of the 12 Zodiac signs.

Continue reading Which Billions Character Are You Based On Your Zodiac? – July 4, 2020

Categories Billions Poll Recap

The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 5 Episode 7 Mid-Season Finale – June 17, 2020

Billions MVP Awards for Season 5, Episode 7, “The Limitless Sh*t”

by Gingersnap | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | June 17, 2020

We continue to award our Most Valuable Players for Billions season five in a compilation post called the ‘Billions MVP Fanbook,’ which commemorates all those in honor of achievement for the utmostbrazen, uber shameless, ultra scheming, unmatched bad asses to date – from sports references, music and tasty food to pop culture remarks, shocking twists and ultimate paybacks. In case you missed it, here are the MVPs for episode one, episode two, episode three, episode four, episode five, and episode six.

Let us continue with that tradition as we award our Most Valuable Players (MVPs) for the mid-season finale. Here are the Billions MVP awards for Season 5, Episode 7, “The Limitless Sh*t.”

Continue reading The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 5 Episode 7 Mid-Season Finale – June 17, 2020

Categories Billions Poll Print Media Recap

The Most Billions-y Things That Happened on Billions Season 5, Episode 7 Mid-Season Finale – June 14, 2020

This Isn’t the Limitless Sh*t, It’s the Scarface Sh*t

by Kyle McGovern | Newsweek | June 14, 2020

Episode Seven: The Limitless Sh*t

To celebrate the show’s compelling brand of absurdity, we’re keeping track of the most Billions-y things that happen on Billions this season. For highlights from the latest episode, brace yourselves and head below.

This Episode Is Actually Titled “The Limitless S**t”

Yes, that title is indeed a reference to the 2011 Bradley Cooper flick Limitless. In that movie (which later became a short-lived TV series of its own), Cooper stars as a guy who takes a drug that improves his brain function to the nth degree. (Or, as Phyllis from The Office once put it, “Isn’t that the one where the guy becomes limitless?”) And that’s exactly what goes down at Axe Capital this week—sort of. But we’ll have more on that in a moment. For now, take a second to appreciate that episode title, which is just a peak Billions Bro move—even more so than calling this season’s second episode “The Chris Rock Test.”

Continue reading The Most Billions-y Things That Happened on Billions Season 5, Episode 7 Mid-Season Finale – June 14, 2020

Categories Billions Poll Recap

The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 5 Episode 6 – June 10, 2020

Billions MVP Awards for Season 5, Episode 6, “The Nordic Model”

by Gingersnap | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | June 10, 2020

We continue to award our Most Valuable Players for Billions season five in a compilation post called the ‘Billions MVP Fanbook,’ which commemorates all those in honor of achievement for the utmost brazen, uber shameless, ultra scheming, unmatched bad asses to date – from sports references, music and tasty food to pop culture remarks, shocking twists and ultimate paybacks. In case you missed it, here are the MVPs for episode one, episode two, episode three, episode four, and episode five.

Let us continue with that tradition as we award our Most Valuable Players (MVPs) this week. Here are the Billions MVP awards for Season 5, Episode 6, “The Nordic Model.”

Continue reading The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 5 Episode 6 – June 10, 2020

Categories Billions Poll Print Media Recap

The Most Billions-y Things That Happened on Billions Season 5, Episode 6 – June 7, 2020

Sex, Blood, and Portraits

by Kyle McGovern | Newsweek | June 7, 2020

Episode Six: The Nordic Model

To celebrate the show’s compelling brand of absurdity, we’re keeping track of the most Billions-y things that happen on Billions this season. For highlights from the latest episode, brace yourselves and head below.

Axe Turns His Apartment Into a Museum to Duck Fraud Charges

You read that correctly, but let’s provide some context. As this week’s “Previously On” reminds us, in an earlier episode of the series, Axe engaged in a clever tax fraud scheme: He had replicas of valuable paintings stored away “in a tax-free state,” and then had the real things hung up in his palatial Manhattan apartment. Chuck and Condola Rashad’s Kate Sacker get wind of this and see an opportunity. As Chuck puts it, “There’s something poetic about taking him down the same way as Capone.”

Continue reading The Most Billions-y Things That Happened on Billions Season 5, Episode 6 – June 7, 2020